Recipes to reimagine potatoes as muffins and tawa-fry rolls

In the desi kitchen's sabzi shelf, potatoes are akin to salt—indispensable. The multi-tasking potato goes well with everything and can be eaten for every meal. It's one of those rare ingredients that comes through even when it's slightly overcooked, and can be turned into a spicy mash.

Moreover, it is an absolute essential in the wonderful, deep-fried world of snacks. It is with snacks that you can really experiment with this tuber by adopting different cooking techniques and playing around with spices. So, here are two recipes—French potato galettes (think of them as layered muffins) and stuffed tawa fried potatoes with a crispy layer of sesame.

Potato galette

Potato gallete by Chef Suraj Prakash.

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 50 minutes

Total time:1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

Cooking spray

4 large Russet potatoes (2 pounds), peeled

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Thyme and rosemary sprigs, for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking oil.

2. Thinly slice the potatoes into approximately 1/16th inch-thick slices with a mandoline or by hand with a sharp knife.

3. Combine the butter, olive oil, garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.

4. Add the potatoes and toss until evenly coated.

5. Layer the potato slices in the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup to the top. Drizzle with any remaining butter/oil combination.

6. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the centers are tender.

7. Let stand in the pan for 5 minutes. Carefully remove to a serving platter and garnish with fresh herb sprigs.

Tawa Bharwan Aloo



Tawa Bharwan Aloo by Chef Suraj Prakash.

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Total time: 55 minutes

Potatoes 3 medium

One-fifth cup potato, grated

50 gm green peas

15 gm fresh coriander

5 gm ginger, chopped

1 cup cottage cheese, grated

500 ml oil for deep-frying

2-3 green chillies

10-12 cashewnuts

1 tbsp raisins

2 gm shahi jeera

1 tsp chaat masala, for sprinkling

1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

Half tsp garam masala powder

A pinch of green cardamom powder

Salt to taste

3 tablespoons desi ghee

A pinch of turmeric powder

100 gm white sesame seeds

1 lemon half

Instructions

Make a potato barrels

1. Peel potatoes, cut a thin slice from both the sides of each potato and scoop out the centre to make a barrel. Place all the trimmings aside in a bowl.
2. Boil water with turmeric and salt. Add potato barrels, cook until soft, remove and cool.
3. Make a thick batter of refined flour dip potato barrel outside and coated with white sesame seeds res for 5 minutes in chiller then deep fry until golden brown

Potato stuffing

1. Heat sufficient oil in a kadhai. Deep-fry the potato trimmings till golden and crisp. Drain on absorbent paper.
2. To make the filling, heat one tbsp desi ghee in a non-stick pan, add shahi jeera ginger and green chillies and sauté for a minute. Roughly chop cashewnuts, add to the pan and sauté for a minute. Add raisins and sauté further for a minute. Stir in the green peas, grated paneer, grated potato, crispy potato trimmings and cook for two minutes. Transfer the mixture into a bowl.
3. Add cottage cheese, half tsp chaat masala, one-fourth tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder, half tsp garam masala powder and salt and mix well.

Stuff the potatoes with the filling and cut into thick roundels. Heat the remaining ghee in a non-stick pan and shallow fry the roundels. Serve with mint chutney and salad leaves.

Suraj Prakash is the executive chef at Araiya Hotels, Palampur